Annular atomizer for flame photometry

ABSTRACT

The annular atomizer is for use in flame photometry. Sensitive adjustment of the atomizer is ensured by means of a capillary tube at any time. This tube is surrounded by at least one nozzle and for the purpose of adjustment is tiltable all round near the orifice of this nozzle. The tilting motion is imparted to the tube at its end remote from the nozzle orifice.

[ 1 Feb. 8, 1972 United States Patent Winter X 7 8 M 5 3 Wk aw m x .mm H m 9r mm m ,0 mm 3 [54] ANNULAR ATOMIZER FOR FLAME PHOTOMETRY [72] inventor:

Assistant Examiner-Gene A. Church Ernst Winter, Jena, Germany [73] Assignee: VEB Carl Zeiss Jena, Jena, District of ABSTRACT Gera, Germany The annular atomizer is for use in flame photometry. Sensitive June 1968 adjustment of the atomizer is ensured by means of a capillary tube at any time. This tube is surrounded by at least one nozzle and for the purpose of adjustment is tiltable all round near the [22] Filed:

[21] App]. No.: 742,120

orifice of this nozzle. The tilting motion is imparted to the tube at its end remote from the nozzle orifice.

1 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures 727 838 a; 2..3 INT 3 .3 B MB 9 9 B 3 "2 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,208,333 9/1965 Gilbert.................................356/87X ANNULAR ATOMIZER FOR FLAME PHUTOMETRY This invention relates to annular atomizers for flame photometry comprising a capillary tube which is concentrically surrounded by at least one nozzle and supported by holding means near the orifice.

In known annular atomizers, the capillary tube is rigidly mounted in the closed part of the nozzle, and the tube end extending into the jet is adjustable by means of three setscrews for accurate centering of the capillary-tube orifice. In most cases, however, the adjustment is complicated by inaccessibility of the setscrews. Particularly in direct atomizing burners, the setscrews are covered by a further nozzle which surrounds the first nozzle and renders adjustment impossible while the burner is in operation. Adjusting a dead burner is however highly unsatisfactory since essential infonnation as to adjustment is obtained from the shape of the flame. Moreover, the holes for the setscrews must be sealed so tightly that the gases flowing through the nozzles cannot mix with each other and ignite before their exit from these nozzles. The setscrews are secured and their holes sealed by soldering or cementing already in the course of manufacture. it is not practical for the user to do the sealing himself, which would be disadvantageous for the flame-photometrical measuring. The burner must therefore be of such construction that a. possibly necessary adjustment can be made by the user himself without having to solder or cement.

in a known annular atomizer, the capillary tubes are adjusted by means of a centering cone in the nozzle. It is not possible however to redress faulty coordination of centering cone and capillary tubes relative to each other. Another known burner of this kind has a capillary tube which is selfcentering in the oxygen flux. Apart from the necessity of most exacting preadjustment of the capillary tube, this atomizer very often requires the tube to be readjusted, and its consumes considerably more test specimen substance and combustible gas than such burners generally do.

The present invention aims at obviating the foregoing disadvantages by providing an annular atomizer in which the burner, while in operation, can be adjusted in a simple and reliable manner with a high degree of sensitivity without leakiness at the holes of the setscrews.

To this end, the invention consists in an atomizer of the foregoing kind wherein the capillary tube is displaceable approximately at right angles to itself in the closed end of the nonle, so as to be adjustable without part of the atomizer having to be dismantled. Moreover, as the distance between the holding means and the orifices of the nozzle is smaller than the distance between the holding means and the closed end of the nonle, the adjustment can be operated with much delicacy.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the nozzle end remote from the orifice is closed by a gasket rigidly connected with the capillary tube, this gasket being urged against a jamb by a spring and a screwnut and being displaceable by, and along the direction of, screws at right angles to the capillary tube. It is further advantageous to place an exchangeable washer between the gasket and the flange, so that the capillary tube can in a comparatively simple manner be adjusted along its own length.

The invention is applicable to both direct and indirect atomizers, wherever a capillary tube in a nozzle is to be centered in a simple and accurate manner.

in order that the invention may be more readily understood, reference is made to the accompanying drawing which illustrates diagrammatically and by way of example one embodiment thereof. and in which FIG. 1 is a section along the axis XX of an annular atomizer, and

FIGS. 2 and 3 are respectively cross sections on the lines 2-2 and 3-3 in FIG. 1.

in the drawing, a capillary tube 1 and two nozzles 2 and 3 have a common axis X-X. The capillary tube 3 is protected from mechanical damage by a surrounding sleeve 4 which is fast with a gasket 5 and coaxial with the axis X-X. The capillary tube 1 is held in position in the nozzle 2 by three screws 6,

7, 8 (FIG. 2) staggered by l20 relatively to each other, the projections of the axes of these screws intersecting at a point in the axis X)(. A socket tube 9 is provided at its one end with a stop face 10 and an interior thread 11 and has in its other end an interior enlargement 12 into which a thread 13 is cut. A washer l5 lies between the face 10 and a flange 14 of the nozzle 2. The enlargement 12 in the socket tube 9 provides a jamb 16 for a washer l7 and the gasket 5. A spring l8 and an externally threaded perforated plate 19 meshing with the interior thread 13 urge the gasket 5 against the jamb 16. Three screws 20, 21, 22 (FIG. 3) in the wall of the socket tube 9 which are staggered relatively to each other by serve for displacing the capillary tube 1 substantially at right angles to the axis X-X. An inlet pipe 23 substantially at right angles to the axis XX and fast with the socket tube 9 is for the supply of, for example, 0 (oxygen).

The socket tube 9 on its exterior surface conjugate to the nozzles 2 and 3 has a thread 24 which engages a screwcap 25. The screwcap 25 lies against a shoulder 26 of the nozzle 3 and rigidly connects this nozzle with the socket tube 9, the connection being made gastight by a washer 27. A blower pipe 28 substantially at right angles to the axis X)( and fast with the nozzle 3 is for the supply of, for example, H, (hydrogen). The free end of the capillary tube 1 is immersed in a specimen liquid 29 in a container 30.

The capillary tube 1 is to be adjusted as accurately as possible relatively to the nozzle 2 by means of the screws 6, 7 and 8, and the screw holes are to be cemented. Small residual decentration of the capillary tube 1 in the orifice of the nozzle 2 can be rectified in a manner described hereinafter. Oxygen pressed through the pipe 23 into the cavity in the socket tube 9 flows past the orifice of the capillary tube 1 and is discharged by the nozzle 2 of the atomizer, the O flux causing specimen liquid 29 to be aspirated and sprayed as aerosol. The blower pipe 28 supplies l-l into the cavity in the nozzle 3, whence it is discharged into the open. The mixture of O, and H is ignited at the nozzle orifices, and the flame causes the aerosol to evaporate and emit light. Deflection of the flame away from the axis XX indicates faulty centering of the capillary tube l in the nozzle 2. For accurate adjustment, the plate 19 is screwed down so far that the gasket 5 under the action of the spring 18 remains sufficiently pressed against the jamb 16. By means of the three screws 20, 21, 22 acting through the gasket 5 against the capillary tube 1, this tube, quasi-cardanically held by the screws 6, 7, 8, is slightly tilted until the flame deflects no longer and burns along the direction of the axis XX.

The washers l5, l7 and 27 prevent the gases from blending in the annular atomizer and/or from escaping at wrong places. If the plate 19 is unscrewed from the socket tube 9 completely, the capillary tube 1, the sleeve 4 and the gasket 5 can be removed for changing the washer 17.

The nozzle 2 may be of a piece with the socket tube 9, and instead of the screws 6, 7, 8 some other kind of cardanic suspension may be used.

I claim:

1. An annular atomizer for flame photometry comprising at least one noule,

a capillary tube,

said nozzle and said tube each having an entrance-aperture and an exit aperture,

said exit apertures being substantially at the same level and concentric with an axis,

the part of said nozzle remote from said exit apertures having an aperture which can be sealed,

said tube being tiltably mounted in said nozzle in the vicinity of said exit apertures and its end containing its entrance aperture extending through the scalable aperture, sealing means for said sealable aperture,

said sealing means being connected in part with said tube and in part with said nozzle,

the sealing means connected with said tube being slightly displaceable togetherwith said tube substantially at right angles to said axis,

means for displacing said sealing means and adjustably tilting said tube,

and a container for liquid to be sprayed,

the tube end containing the entrance aperture of said tube being immersed in specimen liquid. 5 

1. An annular atomizer for flame photometry comprising at least one nozzle, a capillary tube, said nozzle and said tube each having an entrance aperture and an exit aperture, said exit apertures being substantially at the same level and concentric with an axis, the part of said nozzle remote from said exit apertures having an aperture which can be sealed, said tube being tiltably mounted in said nozzle in the vicinity of said exit apertures and its end containing its entrance aperture extending through the sealable aperture, sealing means for said sealable aperture, said sealing means being connected in part with said tube and in part with said nozzle, the sealing means connected with said tube being slightly displaceable together with said tube substantially at right angles to said axis, means for displacing said sealing means and adjustably tilting said tube, and a container for liquid to be sprayed, the tube end containing the entrance aperture of said tube being immersed in specimen liquid. 